Leeches! ugh! Help!

Chickieepooh2u

Chickieepooh2u

Ooo, Ooo! Pick me pick me!!
Jan 12, 2006
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Norfolk, NE
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Ok. I have what I believe to be leeches in my 33 gallon fancy male guppy tank. Found 'em last night. They're pretty small, and are hanging off my fish's tail and some are under their chin or belly. Some fish don't have any others have 4 or more.

This is what I did. I treated with a parasite clear from Jungle. I'll do another treatment Friday (per instructions). Also I added salt. 1 tsp/gallon. This morning the leech things are still there! Ok, do I just need to be patient and continue the parasite meds, and/or maybe up the salt to about 10 tsp more? Tank is currently running at about 80° F.

I want these things GONE! The box says for anchor worms I can repeat the meds once a week for 3 weeks. I plucked one off and tried to get a good look at it and I didn't see any 'V' shape so I'm pretty sure its not anchors, but leeches. I thought for sure with the salt they would be gone already!!
 
Have you considered moving the fish to a hospital tank in which you could fight the parasites more aggresively without doing harm to your main tank?
 
Yeah, I actually did that first last night with the biggest male guppy. Then at closer look in the big tank I saw my other fish were infested also. The hospital tank is only a 1 gallon, not nearly big enough for all 6 of my males. And I kinda figured that the tank itself was infested so the hospital tank was kinda pointless at this stage.
 
Actually, when it comes to parasites (like anchor worms etc) you should treat the whole tank.

parasites on one fish leaves the possiblity that the tank may have an infestation.

on the affected fish some recommend a bath for 15 in a 2.5% solution of salt.

I am not sure how effective parasite clear is in a battle with leeches. it does contain Prazi which has been mentioned for use to remove all exteranl parasites. you can e-mail jungle labs to verify the use of parasie clear to remove leeches.

methods described for battling leeches include:

leech traps

adding a fish that consumes leeches

picking them out with tweezers. and

removing all your fish for about a month and starving the leech.

it is not recommended to pick the leech off the fish as this could cause tissue damage.
 
Leech trap.... hmmm Ick, but worth a try. Gonna have an issue with the raw meat part, lol vegetarian here. What are some leech eating fish? I'm getting search results that say a 3% salt solution. Whats that work out to? I read it somewhere, I think its like 2.5 tsp per gallon. Not sure though.

The idea of tearing down the tank and treating it with lime makes me ill!

Just ticked by this whole experience!! Thanks to my Mother and Hubby I'm dealing with this!! They both thought it would be 'cool' to have some wild minnows and wild hornwort in MY tank. Ohh I got rid of those, but they seem to have left the leeches behind!! I swear if I lose my fish over this I'll be selling Hubby and Mom on e-bay!!!
 
do ya think you'd get much for them on ebay??LOL..
a picture would sure help to make sure they are leeches(who will form a small heartshapes blob on the fish when attached)

oh and the recommended fish is a dwarf puffer(usually not good with a lot of other fish)

some of the meat eating cichlids may help but then ..they may also attack your guppies.

btw, leeches are more active at night.

oh and as far as a salt bath..a bath is done seperate of the main tank..the bath is designed to get the leech to drop off. so use a bowl with either tank water or de-chlorinated water if you decide to try this.
 
OK, There is no possible way I have the skills to take a picture of them on my fish. That and my Hubby cobbed my camera. I think that 3% was supposed to be a dip or something so I'll forget that.

I found a pic from the web that shows whats on my fish. They look EXACTLY like this. Again, not my fish just a pic I found.

leech.jpg
 
Well it seems like the saltwater dip would be best according to many websites.
2.5 Solution would be about 6 tbs per gallon.

This was taken from:
animal-world.com - leeches
If the fish is bathed in a 2.5 percent solution of salt for 15 minutes, most of the leeches should just fall off. Those that do not will be affected enough to remove with forceps with minimal damage.
Click to expand...

However about cleaning up your whole tank... no ideas unless you do a 2.5 solution for the whole tank which for a 33gal would be about 200 tbs of salt for 15 min then a 100% water change... But that sounds ridiculous lol...
 
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if you dont have any inverts in the tank dose it with copper sulfate parasite killer what i think is a mendel brand.. it comes in a white and blue bottle and has a picture of a yellw lab cichlid on it it works for many types of worms and ick
 
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